President interviewed by The Hangover star Zach Galifianakis on cult web show
Between Two Ferns

"Is it going to be hard in two years when you're no longer president and people are going to stop letting you win at basketball?"

These were just some of the questions faced by President Barack Obama as he appeared on Between Two Ferns, the cult internet chat show hosted by Zach Galifianakis, the dishevelled star of The Hangover series.

The leader of the free world endured the sit-down with Galifianakis, who by his own admission is "short, fat and smells like Doritos", in order to urge young people to sign up for his healthcare reforms.

"Sorry I had to cancel a few times," Galifianakis opened. "My mousepad broke last week and I had to get my great-aunt some diabetes shoes."

The president shot back: "When I heard that people actually watched this show I was pretty surprised."

The good-natured exchange of insults continued with Galifianakis asking if Mr Obama planned to build his presidential library in his home country of Kenya, while the president compared his interviewer unfavourably to Bradley Cooper, Galifianakis's more classically handsome co-star in The Hangover.

In exchange for appearing on the show Mr Obama got a few minutes to plug his healthcare reforms ahead of the March 31, the deadline for people to get health insurance or face fines. A link to healthcare.gov, the online portal for signing up, appeared at the end.

"Is they what they mean by drones?" Galifianakis asked impatiently as Mr Obama talked about the need for young people to get healthcare.

The interview ended with the cheap set falling away to reveal the interior of the White House behind and Galifianakis claiming that he had used the Diplomatic Room to film for years.

"Who gave you permission to do that?" Mr Obama demanded in mock outrage.